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Tuesday, 18 February 2014

Teaser Tuesday: 'Encomium Emmae Reginae'

One of my modules this term is all about 'writing women' in all its different meanings. So not just women who write themselves, but also about how authors wrote about women, and all of this set in medieval times. The texts we're looking at are all roughly set between 700 and 1200. Encomium Emmae Reginae was probably written around 1042 by a monk and commissioned by Queen Emma herself, who was desperately trying to reassert her own position as Queen and her sons rights as heir. Her history is a really fascinating one. She was married to an Anglo-Saxon king first, then married the Viking king that defeated him, King Knutr. She was the wife to two kings and the mother of two as well, Horthaknut and Edward the Confessor.

The Encomium is about Emma, although it manages to talk about a lot of different people without mentioning her for pages. I think a reason for this way of writing was that it asserted Emma's position as central, without forcing it into the reader's face. She seems to be, quite naturally, present at everything important that happens.

Now, onto the actual meme. Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. The rules are easy:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

Be careful not to include SPOILERS

Share the title & author, so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they want.

So, here we go:

'The dead prince, however, was buried in a royal tomb, and was wept long and sorely by the native people; to him may God grant every joy in the heavenly kingdom.' p. 31

Not quite which prince just died, because that happened a lot in those days, but I love the way the national sorrow is expressed.

About Me

Books have always been and will always be my passion. I grew to love books at a very early age, when my father sang me the alphabet as a lullaby. He read to me every single night for over 10 years, aftter which I took over.

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